The Monkey and the Tortoise / Ang Buhay ni Matsing at ni Pagong

Illustrated by José Rizal

The tortoise and the monkey found once a banana tree floating amidst the waves of a river. It was a very fine tree, with large green leaves, and with roots, just as if it had been pulled off by a storm. They took it ashore.

Let us divide it, said the tortoise, and plant each its portion.

They cut it in the middle, and the monkey, as the stronger, took for himself the upper part of the tree,